Monday, February 15, 2010

"[S]ome charters are known to discourage less academically inclined students from enrolling." — Los Angeles Times

Don't know if anyone caught the evil empress of privatization's comments in the Los Angeles Times that the voting process she inflicted on our communities was "disgusting," but that was the first round of Yolie Flores Aguilar, Inc.'s vicious invective against those who chose public schools over her corporate CMO charter allies.

Ralph Nader once described George W. Bush as "a corporation in the disguise of a human being." The same can be said of LAUSD VP Yolie Flores Aguilar, except for the disguise part. Her assault on our communities on behalf of her billionaire bankrollers and corporate CMO charter companions is probably the most remarkable part of the neoliberal assault on public education. In her amateurish op-ed in the Los Angeles Daily News entitled "Challenge to status quo good for LAUSD students" [1] Flores Aguilar displays her amazing propensity for arrogance and dishonesty that have become her trademarks. Here's the comments I made in response to her drivel.

It's despicable that an elected official can be as obtuse towards their constituents as VP Yolie Flores Aguilar, Inc. has been.

None of the public school supporters have ever said:

"that their special needs children or English learners will not be served"

What we have said is that they will be under-served. Let's take Ms. Flores Aguilar's country club buddies and fellow elitists from Green Dot Corporation as a key example. Green Dot's exclusionary schools have an average of 7.4% Special Education students compared to 11.3% for District schools. The frightening part is that their corporate CMO is actually far better in terms of their Special Ed and SWD percentages than most of the other corporate CMOs bidding to take over and privatize public institutions.

I welcome all readers to familiarize themselves with the Modified Consent Decree exposing corporate CMO charter-voucher school discrimination and exclusivity. Very telling is the statement that children with disabilities are "significantly underrepresented" at CMO run charter schools. The executive summary of the report (http://bit.ly/4GfFm9), and the data tables from the report (http://bit.ly/dho8Ee). Charter school operators are concerned special education programs for children cut into the massive salaries for their executives. Until these corporate run schools are obligated legally, ethically, and morally to educate every child they shouldn't get a penny of our taxes or the buildings we paid for! As social justice activists, public school advocates, and progressives, we implore charter schools and other outsiders to stop putting EXECUTIVES and CEOs before children!

Of course, Ms. Flores Aguilar, Inc. is intimately familiar with these documents and all the other statistical data proving how CMO corporate charters do everything in their power to avoid educating every child. She's also aware of how the CCSA and the individual charters have fought every attempt to change their discriminatory practices -- to the point that they're trying to get reactionary State Senator Romero to change the law and make it legal for them to discriminate. The fact that VP Yolie Flores Aguilar knows all this, but then goes on to say anyone discussing it is dealing in "fear tactics" speaks volumes to her character.

I think we'd be challenged to find anyone more disingenuous, dishonest, and beholden to corporate interests than LAUSD Vice President Yolie Flores Aguilar. Her disrespect towards parents, students, teachers, and taxpayers goes beyond the pale.

One last thing. Telling the truth is not a fear tactic. We in the social justice community understand Ms. Flores Aguilar is frustrated that many parents and community members have seen through her attempt to increase CMO market share, and in turn the massive salaries of the insatiably greedy CMO executives. We understand that she doesn't want people reading documentation of the major shortcomings of the various CMO corporate charter schools. In the end however, we will speak truth to power. Her "shock doctrine" tactics are unconscionable, and her high handed attacks on our communities on behalf of her corporate handlers will not be forgotten.